Greg Norton, along with his wife Katie, opened Bier Cellar in 2012. Greg is an experienced homebrewer, and a certified Cicerone and a BJCP recognized beer judge. Bier Cellar is an artisanal bottleshop, meaning we sell only craft beer, artisanal wine, mead and cider. We believe that to find your new favorite beer, wine, cider or mead, it helps if you have a guiding hand along the way. So we provide a curated selection of the best beers in the world along with a well-trained and passionate staff to help you along the way.

Allagash and Russian River. Two of the pioneers and leaders in sour/wild ales in the US, and breweries that have been respectful of the history of Belgian sour beer while putting their own unique twist on these unique beers. Allagash Interlude is one of my favorite beers on Earth, a saison/farmhouse beer fermented with the wild yeast Brettanomyces and aged in wine barrels. Russian River Temptation is a blonde ale aged in wine barrels with brettanomyces, another of my favorite beers. Pretty easy to see where we are going with this, I want to see a collaboration that puts a nice funky Saison in some wine barrels. Runner up: Austin Street & Crooked Stave & Jolly Pumpkin (brettanomyces focus), Maine Beer Co. & Bissell Brothers & The Alchemist (hop focus)

Question 3: What would your Maine + International Brewery team up look like?

Oxbow + Allagash + De La Senne + Cantillon. De La Senne used to make a beautiful Saison simply called De La Senne Saison that was a blend of a traditional Belgian Saison and Cantillon Lambic. I would love to see a blend between an Oxbow/De La Senne Saison and Cantillon Lambic. With De La Senne being one of our favorite, and often overlooked, Belgian breweries specializing in rustic and hoppy Belgian beers and Oxbow and Allagash making delicious farmhouse beers, they seem like a great match. Blend in Lambic from one of the best traditional sour beer producers in the world, the result would be a beautiful and funky beer.

Question 4: Free for all! Anything goes here as long as there is 1 Maine brewery involved.

I can’t escape my love of traditional Belgian Saisons. From the romanticized story of the beer’s origins as a provision beer for farm workers in the Belgian area of Wallonia and the rustic beauty of a well-executed version of the style make it my perfect beer. To make my Saison, I am throwing as many great brewing minds in the mix as possible to execute my Saison. For Maine breweries we are throwing in Allagash, Oxbow, Austin Street and Foundation. From the rest of the US, we are including Hill Farmstead, Prairie, Crooked Stave, Upright, and Boulevard. Finally from the international camp, we are inviting Blaugies, Dupont, Fantome, and Jandrain-Jandrenouille. With all those minds in a room, someone can execute my perfect Saison: a dry, crisp, spicy, citrusy and funky farmhouse beer.